Handle with care
by Moya-chan
Summary: None of the Scoobies even suspected that Xander and magic didn’t mix in more ways then one. Established relationship AU drabble, Spike and Xander. Please read author's notes if you have a spare minute.


**Title: **Handle with care

**Fandom**: Buffy

**Pairing**: Spike x Xander

**Rating**: PG-13 (I guess)

**Warnings**: None

**Beta:** devlinnreiko

**Summary**: Established relationship AU. None of the Scoobies even suspected that Xander and magic didn't mix in more ways then one.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any characters from Buffy verse. I'm just borrowing them for fun so don't sue, I don't have a penny.

**Author's notes**: This is a short fic I finished and decided to post just in the last two days. It was kind of an outlet for the negative feelings that gathered during this time.

One of my stories, "The shattered shaft" got plagiarized on ff net. The case is closed, the offending fic removed. Still, the bitter aftertaste of having one of my most well-researched stories simply stolen was there.

I had never written anything of Buffy fandom before, so please restrain yourselves from throwing sharp objects at me if you didn't like it.

Title might change if I find better one.

Thanks to wonderful devlinnreiko for putting up with my late night request for beta :)

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Spike didn't know why none of the Scoobies figured it out yet.

"Here, luv," He said quietly as he balanced the dead weight that was Xander by keeping one of his arms around the young man's waist. He swiftly opened the door to their apartment with the other. "Home sweet home, eh?"

Xander had enough strength and willpower in him to cast a semi-annoyed glare at the vampire, but the effect was spoiled by the fact his eyes looked glazed in pain.

Spike settled his burden gently on the couch while he prepared a bath.

So far only Rupert knew. It was kind of hard for him not to notice when a few months back, Xander didn't make it out of the Magic Box in time and ended up throwing up in the back alley. Well, at least the boy had enough wit not to do it in the middle of the store, but Spike suspected it had more to do with the fact he didn't want his friends to find out. All in all, it led to uncomfortable questions which he couldn't really answer since he was too busy puking his guts out, so Spike was the one to address the issue. He really did tear Giles a new one, after minutes of ranting that for a Watcher he definitely turned a blind eye on the boy's weakness.

Rupert at least had the decency to look shocked and then became extremely apologetic, promising to reduce the play with magic in the future. The rest of Scoobies were still oblivious, since Xander made Giles promise he would keep his new knowledge to himself.

"Come on," He tugged the semi-conscious Xander up when the bath had been filled to his liking with pleasant hot water. "Up you go."

The task of undressing his mate was the one he performed often, yet this kind of attention was different. It was a methodical removal of clothes, not lined up with lust or passion, just caring touches and careful hands. Coaxing the younger man into the tub and settling them down was easy enough as he settled with his back against tub's end, Xander sprawled on his chest and resting his cheek against vampire's collarbone.

The light in the bathroom was off as to not irritate the boy's eyes even more, only the thin strap of it coming from the bedroom. Spike did not need light anyways, and right then Xander did not care at all. He was warm, surrounded by water gently rocking to the rhythm of his breathing, his mate supporting him and not letting him fall asleep and drown. A hand on his back massaged the sore muscles gently, trying to distract him from the fact that every part of his body hurt. Spike allowed Xander to doze off lightly, making sure his head was well above water and waited, unmoving, for the boy's trembling to quiet down.

---------

Willow liked to use spells; that was a well-known fact.

Spike growled under his breath while standing near the slightly ajar window, making sure his cigarette smoke did not make its way back to the room. Xander was sleeping; had been ever since he dozed off in the tub. Spike didn't bother with waking him up, just toweled dried him, dressed the boy in his warm, cotton sweats and shirt and tucked him into bed. The young man stayed out of it during most of his ministrations, so Spike guessed this evening must had taken almost everything out of him.

When he thought about it, it wasn't really that uncommon for humans and some of the demons as well, to be really sensitive to magic. The only difference was that almost all of the humans had not been exposed to it even once in their lives, and had not fought the creatures of Hellmouth on an everyday basis.

From what he had already assessed since he got to know the Scooby gang, was that even the simple locator spell – the one that was performed quite frequently – was enough to send the boy home with a killer migraine. The last time they used some major mojo to defeat the current big bad, the boy had been rushed to hospital where he spent two days delirious with fever. Two days, which Spike was scared shitless and cut his luck close twice by refusing to leave his mate's room until he could feel the first rays of sunlight sizzling his skin.

Xander was sleeping now, but by no means was it a peaceful sleep as the boy had been twisting this and that way, random distress sounds emerging from the back of his throat. This was still better then what they sometimes got, where fever and migraines made Xander wake up in agony-laced nightmares.

Why he still hadn't told Buffy and - most importantly - Willow, Spike wasn't entirely sure. The boy had said once or twice that he didn't want to be a burden and if they wouldn't use magic in a fight because of him someone might end up dead. He didn't want Willow to feel guilty about practicing magic, not when she was so obviously good at it. But all in all, Spike suspected it had something to do with boy's constant feeling of being inferior to the Scooby gang members.

"Pet," Spike whispered out loud, glancing at the distressed young man. "How do you think Red will feel knowing she's been making you sick for years now?"

Xander grunted something feverish in response, but the vampire couldn't make any word out of it. Sighing, he put out his cigarette in the ashtray on the windowsill and closed the window, making sure to pull the heavy curtains tight.

"Here, now," Spike nudged his mate further up the bed and squeezed his way to lie next to Xander. He brushed the dark brown bangs back to lay a soothingly cool hand on the mortal's forehead. "Calm down, luv."

He arranged them both on the bed, settling Xander on the outer side, where near the edge sat the conveniently placed waste bin, just in case. More then enough times Xander didn't have enough time to make it to the bathroom before magic-induced nausea hit him.

Spike pulled his mate close, molding his own body to fit perfectly with the human's back, until he could feel slightly quicker, but steady heartbeat of his boy. Lacing their fingers together upon Xander's stomach he started humming the first tune that popped into his mind which happened to be one of the Sex Pistol's numbers. The choice apparently didn't matter to Xander, because his distressed trashing calmed down upon hearing Spike's tune. Keeping the vigil, Spike made sure that Xander was deep into sleep, without risk of waking up until the early morning hours. Only then he allowed himself to close his eyes and finally, finally fall into slumber, surrounded by the worrying scent of his sick mate.


End file.
